by Aisling Ashbery

Created on: November 21, 2010

Everyone expects winter to be cold to some degree, but temperatures can turn from chilly to frigid in an instant. When you’re facing unexpected cold temperatures at your winter wedding, try some of these tactics to combat the cold.

Minimize Travel

When temperatures turn frightfully frosty, any minute spent outside seems to go on forever—and in truth, you don’t need to be outside very long for frigid temperatures to cause you harm. For this reason, try your best to minimize moving from place to place as much as possible. If your ceremony and reception are booked at two separate locations, see if you can move one or the other to eliminate travel time (moving the ceremony to the reception hall is probably the easier of the two). This will also prevent you from spending any time outside in a dress that probably isn’t constructed with frigid temperatures in mind.

Adjust Your Outfit

If you must move from one venue to the next in your wedding clothes, adjust your outfit in small ways to ensure your safety and comfort. Purchase some white arm and leg warmers, as well as white earmuffs (which will preserve your hair).  Any bride of a winter wedding would be wise to invest in a long white coat to go along with her gown. You may even want to have some boots available to change into just for the ride to your reception. Make sure to take some pictures in your winter wardrobe – it can become part of the special memories on your big day.

Get Everyone Together Early

If the cold spell is more than a few days long, contact guests to invite them to come to the hotel a day early. This lets people travel during the warmest parts of the day, and it means that guests won’t be as weather-worn on the actual day of your ceremony. In fact, when you’re planning a winter wedding it’s a good idea to invite your guests to come early anyway, just in case of a freak storm on your big day.

Ensure Comfort at Your Venue

Communicate with whoever is in charge of your venue to make sure that the space will be well-heated in plenty of time for the wedding. You can make the atmosphere more comforting and inviting by adding some blankets and cushions to the chairs (in your wedding colors, of course). Perhaps for wedding favors you should consider mittens or scarves— items your guests will surely appreciate if they’re driving home the same night.

Add to the Drink Menu

A hot drink can do wonders to warm up the body. See if your venue can serve hot tea/coffee/cocoa before and after the ceremony of your winter wedding to keep everyone nice and toasty (just be careful – you don’t want a cocoa stain on your white dress!)

You can have a beautiful ceremony even if the weather hits you with unexpected cold temperatures at your winter wedding. All it takes is a little precaution and creativity – not to mention that cup of hot cocoa.

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